Technical Abstract:
Development of new biological pesticides for mosquitoes becomes increasingly important as human populations grow and new and exotic disease agents appear. There is also a need to prevent or reduce contamination of the environment with chemical pesticides that threaten man and contribute to a decline in biodiversity. Microbial mosquito control for the past 25 years has been dominated by the use of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) and Bacillus sphaericus (Bs) as biopesticides for larval mosquitoes. To date, efforts to develop alternative microbial control agents that could play a role to compliment Bti and Bs or to fill specific niches where these agents are less effective have not been successful. Recently, there have been tremendous advancements in the ability to transmit some mosquito pathogenic viruses as well as new molecular tools and capabilities to understand and manipulate these viruses at the molecular level. This paper will review recent advancements in the study of a mosquito baculoviruses, Culex nigripalpus nucleopolyhedrovirus (CuniNPV), and discuss its current status in developing strategies for mosquito control.